Wayne Gretzky smiles as he catches his ball after making a long putt on the second green at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Saturday in Pebble Beach. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) / AP

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Once you get past the strangeness of Wayne Gretzky swinging a golf club right-handed, without his sweater tucked in at the right hip, you begin to recognize several traits from his days as a “former NHL player,” as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am web site so remarkably understates the man known far and wide as “The Great One.”

There’s the joy of competition, the camaraderie with fellow players, the determination, and the connection with fans. Gretzky exhibited all these while partnering with future son-in-law Dustin Johnson and becoming the highest-finishing celebrity in the AT&T field this weekend.

The Johnson-Gretzky team tied for eighth in the pro-am tournament Sunday, one year after making the top-25 cut but losing its chance to play the final 2013 round on a match of pro cards. Johnson did not make the pro cut last year but made eventual champion Jimmy Walker work mightily to secure his one-stroke victory over him this week.

Here’s where determination kicks in for Gretzky, an 11-handicap at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks: Johnson finished at 10-under par; the team finished 24-under par. Do the math.

Speaking of math, during his 20-year career, the 15-time all-star set an astounding slew of National Hockey League records – including the record for the most records held – and no doubt inspired record sales of calculators as well.

He scored 894 goals (runner-up Gordie Howe had 801 in 26 seasons); 1,963 assists (runner-up Ron Francis had 1,249 in 23 seasons) and 2,857 points (runner-up Mark Messier had 1,887 in 25 seasons). Add 122 goals, 260 assists and 382 points (all records) in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He was the NHL scoring leader 10 times and its MVP nine – including eight years in a row in the 1980s – and captained the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cups in five years.

When he retired in 1999 – holding 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records and six All-Star records -- he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame immediately because the required three-year waiting period was waived.

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All as a left-hander. Where’d that golf swing come from?

“Growing up in Canada, I was always told, ‘If you’re going to play golf, you have to play right-handed because that’s the way Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer played,’” said the greatest left-handed player in NHL history. (OK, that’s an inside joke. Gretz was quite simply the greatest hockey player who ever lived, period, handedness be damned.) “Fortunately, Mike Weir changed that for us in Canada – and Phil (Mickelson) changed that worldwide – but not before I started playing golf right-handed.”

Some folks would give their right arm to be ambidextrous; The Great One takes it in stride.

Gretzky and Johnson played the first three AT&T rounds with John Daly and Detroit musician Kid Rock and their foursome drew some of the largest galleries of the week.

“This is a great event,” he said. “We’re all having fun out there, out of our element. The fans were great.”

Gretzky’s 99 on hockey sweaters in the galleries outnumbered the 12s of contemporary NFL quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay or Alex Smith of Kansas City -- or even Peyton Manning’s 18 – by an unofficial count of 5-to-1. But that didn’t include the one fan who wore all four replica Gretzky 99 sweaters – Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers – in layers. He get the top one autographed, move on, take it off and meet up with Gretzky a few holes later and got the next one signed. And so on.

Gretzky connected with fans throughout the tournament, mostly by giving autographs, but also by taking a cue from Daly when fans greeted him on the 14th tee at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Saturday with chants of “Great One! Great One!” When they quieted as he teed his ball, he stepped back and encouraged them to continue cheering, only louder, as Daly had just done. After obliging them with a formidable drive down the middle, Gretzky then incited the gallery to accord similar treatment to singer Kid Rock, who responded with his best drive of the round.

For its telecast of the last two rounds, CBS Sports sent runners to survey each of the celebs on their favorites, such as: Who do you want to play you in a movie? What’s your guilty pleasure?